Department of Health and Social Care

Valsartan

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what assessment he has made of the adequacy of supplies of Valsartan; and if he will make a statement.

Jo Churchill: The Department fully understands that maintaining access to Valsartan is vitally important to many people in this country. We are aware that suppliers of valsartan have encountered a recent supply issue. However, currently valsartan tablets and capsules remain available in all strengths (40mg, 80mg, 160mg 320mg). We are continuing to work very closely with all the manufacturers, and the supply situation continues to improve with further deliveries expected from next month.

Genetic Engineering

Eleanor Smith: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to encourage innovation in gene and cell therapies and ensure that such therapies reach those patients who will benefit from such therapies.

Jo Churchill: The United Kingdom is a global leader in providing access to pioneering cell and gene therapies for treating diseases such as cancer, cystic fibrosis, heart disease and diabetes. Indeed, 24% of developers of advanced therapy medicinal products in Europe are headquartered in the UK. Last year the National Health Service was the first health system in Europe to agree full access for a revolutionary new CAR-T treatment, representing one of the fastest funding approvals in the history of our health service.Together with the Cell and Gene Therapy Catapult we have nine specialist hospitals delivering approved CAR-T therapies as well as three Advanced Therapy Treatment Centres across the UK. These centres have been assigned £30 million by UK Research and Innovation - including project funding and an Apprenticeship Training Scheme.

Genetic Engineering

Nic Dakin: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps NICE will take in its review into its methods and processes to review the (a) appraisal process and (b) pricing mechanisms for future cell and gene therapies.

Jo Churchill: The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) is currently reviewing its methods and process for technology appraisals and highly specialised technologies. This will include the methods and processes for specific types of technologies such as cell and gene therapies. NICE plans to engage with partners (including industry and patient groups involved with cell and gene therapies) throughout 2019 and 2020.NICE has set up groups made up of academics, patients, life sciences industry and system partners that will use their collective expertise to help shape the process and methods for cell and gene therapies. A dedicated patient working group has been set up to ensure NICE gets feedback from patients and patient organisations (including those that would benefit from cell and gene therapies). Proposals will also be presented for six weeks of formal public consultation in the summer of 2020.The development of pricing mechanisms for future cell and gene therapies is undertaken by NHS England’s Commercial Medicines Directorate. NICE’s Commercial Liaison Team enables appropriate translation of NICE Committee decision-making to NHS England’s Commercial Medicines Directorate, but does not have a role in the development of the pricing mechanisms.

HIV Infection: Drugs

Andrea Jenkyns: To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, what steps his Department is taking to engage women who are at risk to HIV on accessing the PrEP Impact trial.

Jo Churchill: Holding answer received on 05 September 2019



A core function of the pre-exposure prophylaxis (PrEP) Impact Trial Community Advisory Board (CAB) is to raise awareness and uptake of PrEP in key populations including women. Further information about PrEP Impact Trial CAB activities and participating community groups can be found at the following links:https://www.england.nhs.uk/commissioning/spec-services/npc-crg/blood-and-infection-group-f/f03/prep-trial-updates/https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/faqs In addition, Public Health England’s Innovation Fund has supported a number of community based projects aimed at increasing PrEP awareness in women, black, Asian and minority ethnic groups and trans communities; information on the projects funded in 2018 can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/news/innovative-hiv-prevention-projects-reached-170000-people-in-2018A subgroup within the PrEP Impact Trial Community Advisory Board aims to specifically address PrEP Impact Trial access for women. This subgroup includes membership from a national organisation for sex workers (National Ugly Mugs). The Sophia Forum, who are also members of the subgroup, have recently updated a women and PrEP information leaflet with input from sex workers to ensure the content is acceptable and relevant. The subgroup is also developing a questionnaire to use with women attending sexual health clinics in order to increase knowledge and awareness among women and to aid discussions about PrEP with health workers.Since the start of the PrEP Impact Trial in October 2017, over half of the available 26,000 trial places have been filled. As of 3 September 2019, all participating Trial clinics were open to recruitment for women, trans men and heterosexual men. Information on the enrolment status of participating clinics is regularly updated on the PrEP Impact Trial website at the following link:https://www.prepimpacttrial.org.uk/join-the-trial

Wales Office

Wales Office: Travel

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2018.

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Wales, how much his Department spent on ministerial travel by (a) first class, (b) second class and (c) in total in 2017.

Kevin Foster: The Office of the Secretary of State for Wales spent the following on ministerial travel (rail, cars and air) in 2017 and 2018: Financial YearFirst Class Travel* (Rail only)Second Class Travel (Rail, Cars and Air)Total Spend on Ministerial Travel £££2017-18Nil64,01664,0162018-191,03791,76492,801 *First class travel was by rail only.

Department for Education

Special Educational Needs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what criteria he will use in deciding whether to use his powers of intervention where a local authority has failed to make sufficient progress in improving its provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, where a local authority has failed, following a revisit by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, to make sufficient progress in improving its provision for children with special educational needs and disabilities, what steps his Department will take to involve local parents in decision-making on next steps.

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether local area inspections of provision by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission for children with special educational needs and disabilities will continue beyond 2021.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: If a local area has failed to make sufficient progress following a special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) revisit by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission, local area leaders must, as a minimum, submit an updated action plan to the Department for Education, NHS England and the Department for Health and Social Care. The action plan must be co-produced with partners and state how the local area will report on progress and impact, as well as how partners, including families, will be kept fully aware and informed of progress. The action plan will be published and a formal progress review meeting will take place within six months of the revisit report being published. The key partners involved, including the Parent Carer Forum, will be invited to attend this meeting.My right hon. Friend, the Secretary of State for Education, makes a case-by-case assessment regarding which actions to take following a local area SEND inspection. The outcomes of inspection reports – and particularly where local areas have not made sufficient progress following their revisit by Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission - are key criteria in the Secretary of State’s consideration of the use of intervention powers.The Secretary of State has asked Ofsted and the Care Quality Commission to design a programme of further local area SEND inspections to follow the current 5-year round. Discussions around the design and delivery of a possible second cycle are underway but no final decisions have yet been made.

Special Educational Needs

Jim Fitzpatrick: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what data his Department collects on outcomes achieved by disabled children, including those who have not been formally identified as having a special educational need.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The department collects data, via the school census, on pupils identified with a special educational need. This will include some pupils who have a disability, but the department does not collect data on pupils who have a disability but have not been identified with a special educational need. The department collects and publishes a range of data on outcomes achieved by children, and the published data is generally broken down by a range of characteristics, including pupils identified with special educational needs. A summary of the data published by special educational needs is available in the following publication:https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/sen-analysis-and-summary-of-data-sources.

Foster Care: Finance

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to provide financial support to foster carers who wish to offer staying put placements.

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what estimate has he made of the number of care leavers required to claim universal credit to subsidise their staying put placement.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: ​Since its introduction in May 2014, the department has provided new burdens funding each year to local authorities to implement ‘Staying Put’, as set out in the table below:Financial yearAmount of funding given to local authorities to implement ‘Staying Put’2014-15£7.4 million2015-16£14.8 million2016-17£22.2 million2017-18£22.85 million2018-19£23.3 million2019-20£23.77 millionTotal£114.32 million Decisions on funding beyond March 2020 will be subject to the department’s Spending Review settlement.Funding for each Staying Put arrangement - including whether the young person should contribute to the cost of the placement through income they receive from earnings or benefits - is agreed on a case-by-case basis and is not reported to the department. Consequently, the information requested on whether young people are required to claim benefits to subsidise the Staying Put arrangement is not available.

Department for Education: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The information requested is not held centrally.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the 30 hour free childcare scheme in Wales in the 2018-19 financial year.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the 30 hour free childcare scheme in Wales in the 2017-18 financial year.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people used the 30 hours free childcare scheme in Wales in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many people used the 30 hours free childcare scheme in Scotland in (a) 2017-18 and (b) 2018-19.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the 30 hour free childcare scheme in Scotland in the 2018-19 financial year.

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what the cost to the public purse was of the 30 hour free childcare scheme in Scotland in the 2017-18 financial year.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The 30 hours childcare schemes are a devolved matter and the Department for Education has a remit for the 30 hours entitlement for England. Questions about schemes in Scotland and Wales should be referred to the devolved administrations.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many weeks is the offering of 30 hours free childcare spread across the year.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: ​We want parents to have access to a range of affordable childcare, giving them increased flexibility in their working hours and helping children thrive in the crucial early years. That is why the Department for Education is investing £3.5 billion in our early education offers this year alone.The 30 hours childcare entitlement provides an additional 570 hours of funded childcare to working parents of 3 and 4 year olds across the year. The 570 hours are in addition to the 570 hours already provided under the universal 15 hours free childcare entitlement. While many providers will offer 30 hours of funded childcare per week during term time (38 weeks of the year), all free entitlements can be ‘stretched’ by taking fewer hours per week over up to 52 weeks of the year to cover both term-time and the school holidays.To ensure that parents can make informed decisions on their choice of childcare, the department’s statutory guidance for local authorities states that providers should publish a statement of how they deliver the free entitlements and any additional charges they impose for optional activities outside of the entitlement.

Breakfast Clubs

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many schools in England provide a breakfast club.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The department is investing up to £26 million into the National Schools Breakfast Programme, using funds from Soft Drinks Industry Levy revenues. A contract was awarded to Family Action in March 2018 and will run until March 2020. Family Action, in partnership with Magic Breakfast, have both been named as the leading charities responsible for running the Breakfast Club programme. Together they have set up or improved more than 1,700 breakfast clubs across the country.The department’s breakfast club provision is one of a number of available programmes open to schools. Across England there are a number of independent schemes already in operation either run by schools themselves or in partnership with charities and organisations such as Kellogg’s and Greggs. The department does not collect figures on the total number of breakfast clubs in operation outside of our programme.

Children: Corporal Punishment

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what recent assessment she has made of rates of compliance with the ban on the smacking of children in England.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: There is no specific ban on ‘smacking’ children in England.

Free School Meals

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he plans to encourage schools to use parents' national insurance numbers with their consent to identify eligibility and then automatically register eligible children for free school meals.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The continuing provision of free school meals to children from out of work families, or those on low incomes, is of the utmost importance to this government. We want to make sure as many eligible pupils as possible are claiming their free school meals, and to make it as simple as possible for schools and local authorities to determine eligibility. To support this, we already provide an electronic Eligibility Checking System (ECS) to make the checking process as quick and straightforward as possible for schools and local authorities. We have also developed a model registration form to help schools encourage parents to sign up for free school meals. We also provide guidance to Jobcentre Plus advisers so that they can make Universal Credit recipients aware that they may also be entitled to wider benefits, including free school meals.We will continue to look at what the most effective schools do and to highlight and disseminate best practice. We are prepared to consider any further steps we can take to improve the take-up of free school meals.

Pupil Premium: Travellers

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the effectiveness of pupil premium criteria for meeting the needs of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller children.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The pupil premium is additional funding, worth over £2.4 billion in the current financial year, to help schools improve the progress and attainment of disadvantaged pupils. Allocations to schools are based on the number of pupils on roll at the time of the January school census who are currently registered for benefits-based free school meals (FSM) or who have been registered at any point in the last 6 years (known as ‘Ever 6 FSM’); or who are currently looked after, or have left local authority care in England or Wales through adoption or other specified routes. In 2019-20, 27.3% of all pupils in state-funded education in England attract pupil premium funding to the schools they attend.The department knows that a significant proportion of Gypsy, Roma and Traveller of Irish Heritage (GRT) pupils qualify for the pupil premium. In 2017-18, 41.1% of GRT pupils at the end of key stage 2 and 33.7% at the end of key stage 4 were registered for FSM.Nonetheless, the department is aware that there are concerns that some GRT pupils from financially disadvantaged family circumstances do not attract pupil premium funding to the schools they attend, because their parents choose not to apply for those benefits that would qualify their children for FSM. We encourage those parents who are eligible for qualifying benefits to take up the offer of support, so that all available resources can be brought to bear in improving the futures of all our young people.It should also be noted that the pupil premium is not ring-fenced funding and schools have flexibility over how they use their allocations to address the needs of their pupils. This can include the implementation of whole school approaches that will improve the progress and attainment of all pupils, as well as being particularly beneficial for those pupils who are formally classed as disadvantaged and attract pupil premium funding. We actively encourage schools to adopt evidence-based approaches to their pupil premium spending, and to look at the pupil premium guide recently produced by the Education Endowment Foundation on how to maximise the impact of the funding. This information can be found at the following link: https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/evidence-summaries/pupil-premium-guide/.

Children: Exploitation

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many children the Government plans to support through the Tackling Child Exploitation Support programme.

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department plans to take through the Tackling Child Exploitation Support programme to  support local bodies to disrupt organised networks known as grooming gangs.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme will include support for local safeguarding partners - the police, health and the local authority - to develop and deliver a strategic response to extra-familial harms and child exploitation. The police force(s) in any safeguarding partnership will be responsible for ensuring that any intelligence gathered during safeguarding activity in that area is used to disrupt organised crime gangs involved in grooming.The Tackling Child Exploitation Support Programme will not be focussing directly on individual children and young people - it has been contracted to provide support for partners in local areas with safeguarding responsibilities to develop their capability to provide a better safeguarding response for children in their area. There are many organisations already providing valuable support for direct practice with children and young people and the support programme will signpost local partners to them.

Offences against Children

Sarah Champion: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, with reference to report entitled Improving agency data on child sexual abuse: A pilot study of the child sexual abuse, published by the Centre of Expertise on Child Sexual Abuse in July 2019, if he will make an assessment of the adequacy of local authorities reportable data in cases of child sexual abuse and exploitation.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The department welcomes the publication of the report ‘Improving agency data on child sexual abuse’ by the Centre of Expertise and will take into consideration its valuable recommendations. A small amount of the data, on child sexual abuse and exploitation in scope of the report, is reported centrally to the department. These are additional factors collected at the end of a child protection assessment, identified and recorded in the Children in Need census. They are published in Table C3 of the statistical release, ‘Characteristics of children in need tables: 2018’. This can be found at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/characteristics-of-children-in-need-2017-to-2018.Factors identified at the end of the assessment were collected and reported for the first time in the year in 2013 to 2014. Initially, data was only published at a national level due to some concerns about its quality: this is common when new data items are introduced to collections and consistency in local reporting needs to be established. The quality has improved as the data item has ‘bedded in’, and the data is now published at national and local authority level. More than one factor can be identified for each episode of need and as there are 39 factors we publish additional guidance to aid local authorities in submitting this data.We continue to work with local authorities on the data quality as we are aware of the interest in the contextual information provided by this data item, especially in areas such as child exploitation and sexual abuse.

Nurseries: Labour Turnover

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, if he will make an assessment of trends in the level of staff turnover in nurseries in the last three years.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: Employers in the early years sector are responsible for recruiting and setting the pay and conditions for their employees within the statutory requirements set by government (for example, national minimum wage).We do not collect data on staff turnover, however wider data on workforce is included in the Provider Surveys:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/statistics-childcare-and-early-years.

Children: Day Care

Emma Little Pengelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment has been made of the effect of the 30 hours free childcare scheme on educational performance in children.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The 30 hours entitlement is intended to support working families with access to high quality, affordable childcare. We are clear that the 30 hours entitlement aims to support working families with the cost of childcare, and to support parents back into work, or to work more hours should they wish to do so. Therefore, we have not made any assessment of the effect of the entitlement on educational performance.The latest research in ‘Study of early education and development’ shows that cognitive and socio-emotional developmental benefits were seen to be associated with use of early education and care between ages 2 and age 4, however there is no clear optimal number of hours for a child to spend in early years provision. A link to the study can be found here: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/study-of-early-education-and-development-seed.Access to early education is vital to ensuring all children to have the best start in life, which is why we provide 15 hours of free early education for all 3 and 4-year olds and the most disadvantaged 2-year olds. This is why we plan to spend around £3.5 billion on our early education entitlements this year alone.

Food Poverty: Children

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has for establishing a children’s food watchdog.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: ​This government wants pupils to be healthy and well-nourished and we encourage a healthy balanced diet and healthy life choices through school funding, legislation and guidance. My officials will continue to work with colleagues from The Food Foundation to scope out how we might all come together to address the issues raised in the Children’s Future Food Inquiry report and we will set out our response to this report later in the autumn.

Food Poverty: Children

Kerry McCarthy: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps the Government is taking to respond to the recommendations of the Children’s Right2Food Charter.

Mrs Sharon Hodgson: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, whether he will respond to the Children’s Future Food inquiry.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: All children should be able to access healthy and nutritious food at home and at school. This is an essential part of building a country that works for everyone, and in which every child and young person can reach their potential.We are supporting around 1.1 million of the most disadvantaged children through free school meals, saving families approximately £400 a year.We invested in a £9 million holiday activities and food programme in summer 2019, and up to £26 million in a breakfast clubs programme.We are continuing to reflect on the report and its recommendations and will set out our response in the autumn.

Apprentices

Peter Aldous: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps she has taken to increase funding for apprenticeships for non-levy apprenticeship payers.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: ​In 2019-20, funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England has risen to over £2.5 billion, double what was spent in 2010-11 in cash terms. This is used to fund apprenticeships for all employers, including apprenticeships started before the introduction of the levy as well as those started since by levy-payers and non-levy payers.Small and medium-sized enterprises, most of whom do not pay the apprenticeship levy, are the lifeblood of our economy and it is essential that our reforms work for these employers. Over the course of the next year, we will be giving employers who do not pay the levy greater control over how they pay for their apprenticeship training and assess and recruit their apprentices. Employers will have access to a larger pool of training providers to deliver the training that meets their needs and supports growth. We are achieving this by giving small and medium-sized employers in England access to the full benefits of our award-winning online apprenticeship service, on the same basis as levy-payers.To make sure there is a well-managed gradual transition for smaller employers away from the current system and onto the apprenticeship service, we are extending contracts with providers for training apprentices with non-levy payers until April 2020. The recent settlement will determine budgets for the 2020-21 financial year only. The longer-term financial challenges facing the programme will be considered as part of the full Spending Review in due course.

Apprentices: Shipbuilding

Mr Kevan Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what steps his Department is taking to increase the number of apprenticeships in the UK shipbuilding industry.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: Employers are at the heart of government’s reforms on apprenticeships, designing new high-quality apprenticeship standards that meet the needs of their industries.There are 116 engineering and manufacturing standards available for employers in the shipbuilding industry to choose from, and a total of 487 standards available across a wide range of sectors from Business and Administration to Health and Science.The Engineering Technician standard at Level 3 has been developed by employers, including employers in the defence industry such as BAE Systems, Babcock and the Royal Navy. This includes the following maritime defence pathways: Maritime Electrical Fitter, Maritime Mechanical Fitter, Maritime Fabricator and Maritime Pipeworker. More detail on the standard can be found on the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education’s website at the following link: https://www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/engineering-technician/.Employers in the shipbuilding industry in England can use their apprenticeship levy funds to invest in these new high-quality apprenticeship standards, unlocking the productivity benefits associated with employing apprentices.This financial year (2019-20) funding available for investment in apprenticeships in England is over £2.5 billion, double what we spent in 2010-11.The National Apprenticeship Service is supporting employers in the shipbuilding industry to develop their apprenticeship programmes. Employers can find out more about apprenticeships at: https://www.apprenticeships.gov.uk/.

Free School Meals

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what assessment he has made of the potential merits of extending the entitlement to pupil premium funding so that all children under a Special Guardianship Order are able to access Free School Meals.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: Children who have left care through a special guardianship order are eligible for pupil premium plus funding (for previously looked-after children) of £2,300. This is unrelated to eligibility for free school meals (FSMs).To be eligible to receive FSMs, a pupil or their parent must be in receipt of any one of the following listed benefits and must make a claim to the school for FSMs:Income SupportIncome-based Jobseeker’s AllowanceIncome-related Employment and Support AllowanceSupport under Part VI of the Immigration and Asylum Act (1999)The guaranteed element of Pension CreditChild Tax Credit (provided you are not also entitled to Working Tax Credit (WTC) and have an annual gross income of no more than £16,190)WTC run-on - paid for 4 weeks after you stop qualifying for WTCUniversal Credit - if you applied on or after 1 April 2018, your household income must be less than £7,400 a year (after tax and not including any benefits you receive).

University Technical Colleges: Apprentices

Ian Austin: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, what plans his Department has to increase the take-up of apprenticeships through university technical colleges.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The University Technical College (UTC) programme has an important role to play in equipping young people with the skills businesses need and getting them into employment and apprenticeships.The most recent sustained destinations data shows that during 2016-17, 21% of pupils who studied in key stage 5 at a UTC in the previous year, progressed into apprenticeships. This is double any other institution type, and well above the national average of 6%. Three quarters of the UTC apprenticeship cohort progress into apprenticeships at Level 3 or above, compared to half of the national cohort. At key stage 4, 9% of pupils studying at UTCs progressed into apprenticeships, compared to 5% nationally.We want to see this encouraging performance continue, with UTCs working with the help of their employer sponsors to ensure that pupils are equipped with the skills that they need in their companies. Strong involvement from employers can demonstrate to pupils how attending the UTC can lead to a successful career, and will ensure that UTCs continue to prove successful in getting pupils into apprenticeships.

Apprentices

Mr Jonathan Lord: To ask the Secretary of State for Education, how many apprentices there were in the technology sector in (a) the UK, (b) the South East and (c) Woking constituency in the most recent year for which data is available.

Mrs Kemi Badenoch: The most recent statistics on apprenticeship starts by industry sector covers the academic years 2012/13 to 2016/17 and are published at the following link: https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/apprenticeships-in-england-by-industry-characteristics.The UK Standard Industrial Classification of economic activities does not include a specific category for the technology sector. However, the ‘Information and communication’ category includes several specific sub-sectors related to technology (e.g. telecommunications, computer programming and information service activities).In 2016/17 there were 9,410 starts in the information/communication sector in the UK and 1,440 starts in the information/communication sector in the South East.Data is not published at constituency level so the number of starts in the Woking constituency is not available.

Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission

Electoral Register

Cat Smith: To ask the hon. Member for Houghton and Sunderland South, representing the Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission, what the Commission's most recent estimate is for the number of eligible people who are (a) not on the electoral register and (b) not registered correctly; and how the Commission calculated this estimate.

Bridget Phillipson: The Speaker's Committee on the Electoral Commission has indicated that it will not be possible to answer this question within the usual time period. An answer is being prepared and will be provided as soon as it is available.

Ministry of Defence

World War II: Prisoners of War

Dan Jarvis: To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, whether his Department has any plans to introduce a national day of remembrance for UK prisoners of war held by Japan during the Second World War.

Mark Lancaster: The Government and the nation continue to recognise and be thankful for all those who served in the Far East Campaign during the Second World War. We recognise the sacrifices made and the horrors to which our personnel were subjected.We are committed to ensuring that ex-Prisoners of War from the Far East Campaign remain in the public consciousness as much as those who served in other campaigns. In conjunction with the Royal British Legion, we will look to mark the 75th anniversary of Victory over Japan Day on Saturday 15 August 2020 in an appropriate way.While I understand the desire for a national day of remembrance for Servicemen held as prisoners of war by Japan from 1941 to 1945, the Government regularly receives requests for additional commemorative days for cultural, historical and military events. It is simply not possible to accommodate all these requests and so we are not planning to accept any new commemorative or remembrance days at this time.

Department for Work and Pensions

Housing Benefit: Foster Care

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will take steps to ensure that the payment of housing benefit or the housing element of universal credit to foster carers does not adversely affect any other benefits they receive.

Will Quince: Foster Carer’s Allowance is disregarded in both Housing Benefit (HB) and Universal Credit (UC). The receipt of HB or Housing Element as part of their UC award does not adversely affect any other benefits that foster carers may receive.

Access to Work Programme

John McDonnell: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether changes to Access to Work support are planned for staff employed by non-ministerial government departments.

Justin Tomlinson: Since 2006, employees of ministerial government departments have had their support funded directly by their Departments rather than through Access to Work, with the exception of Ministry of Defence employees working outside of London. Access to Work is an important enabler in the delivery of the Government’s pledge to see a million more disabled people into work. As leaders in disability employment, and Disability Confident Level 3 Leaders, government departments should not be reliant on external grants to provide the necessary support for their employees. We have consulted with Ministerial and Non-Ministerial government departments, as well as their arms lengths bodies, to understand what any change could mean. We are currently reviewing this information and considering options for the future.

Social Security Benefits

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps she is making to support claimants who submit their application forms for benefits on time but who do not receive an acknowledgement of receipt until after the deadline has passed, and are asked to explain why the form was submitted late.

Mims Davies: DWP processes are designed to ensure claimants have adequate time to complete applications for benefits. Processes for different benefits vary and extensions can be applied. Where appropriate, reminders are issued when forms have not been received within expected timescales. Acknowledgements are sent for claims which have been submitted within timescales where applicable. If there are instances where this has not happened, we welcome the opportunity to investigate them if details can be provided.

Social Security Benefits

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she will introduce an email address to allow people to send their application for benefits electronically.

Mims Davies: There are no plans to introduce email as a secure method of exchanging citizen information. DWP’s security policy defines how we communicate with claimants using email and ensures DWP is vigilant to risks such as data breaches and data loss as well as the possible corruption of DWP’s IT systems. Once information leaves DWP’s secure systems there is a risk that information may be subsequently lost, manipulated or stolen. We take positive steps to minimise these and other risks, such as limiting the exchange of personal information using email. We do communicate with disabled claimants using email as a reasonable adjustment where this best meets their communication needs. As there are additional security risks associated with using email we always make sure that the disabled customer is aware of the risk of potential data loss before we put this solution in place.

Social Security Benefits: Terminal Illnesses

Karen Lee: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what the timeline is for launching a review into access to benefits for people that are terminally ill.

Justin Tomlinson: On 11 July the Secretary of State launched an in depth evaluation of how the benefits system supports people nearing the end of their life and those with severe conditions.The Department is taking this work forward as a priority and will be seeking input from a range of stakeholders including those who have first-hand experience of the special rules, whether clinicians or others supporting people applying for benefit, in due course.

Department for Work and Pensions: Written Questions

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, when she plans to respond to Question 270706 on social security benefits, tabled by the hon. Member for Birkenhead on 27 June 2019.

Will Quince: Please accept my apologies for the delay in replying to this question. I can confirm that a response has now been issued.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether she has any plans to (a) change the rules on the state pension age for women and (b) compensate those affected by the change in rules.

Guy Opperman: Successive Governments have made necessary decisions to equalise and increase the State Pension age. State Pension age reform has focused on maintaining the right balance between sustainability of State Pension, equality and fairness between generations in the face of demographic change. Even after equalising women’s State Pension age with men’s, women will spend more than 2 years longer on average in receipt of their state pension because of their longer life expectancy. If we had not equalised State Pension age, women would be expected to spend on average over 40 per cent of their adult lives in retirement. During the passage of the Pensions Act 2011, the Government listened to the concerns of those affected and this is why we introduced a concession worth over £1 billion in order to limit the impact on those women who would be most affected by the changes. This concession reduced the proposed increase in State Pension age for over 450,000 men and women, and means that no woman will see her pension age change by more than 18 months, relative to the 1995 Act timetable. For people who simply can’t work, our welfare system will continue to provide a strong safety net, as it does for people of all ages now. Any women experiencing hardship, including problems such as unemployment, disability, and coping with caring responsibilities, can already claim support from the welfare system. The Government is committed to supporting the vulnerable and spends over £50 billion a year on benefits to support disabled people and people with health conditions. The new State Pension is more generous for many women. Over three million women stand to gain an average of £550 extra per year by 2030 as a result of recent State Pension reforms.

Pension Credit: Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk

John Lamont: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what plans she has to ensure maximum uptake of pension credits in Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk constituency.

Guy Opperman: It is important to highlight that there are over 1.6 million people already claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled. In Berwickshire, Roxburgh and Selkirk there are around 2,600 pensioners already claiming Pension Credit. On a national basis the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit. Potential customers can use the Pension Credit Calculator https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling the Freephone number 0800 99 1234. We welcome and encourage initiatives to promote take up of Pension Credit by local organisations who may often be best placed to understand the local circumstances and needs in the community. To help facilitate this, we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits. Most recently we have provided to relevant stakeholders a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the changes introduced on 15 May for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.

Support for Mortgage Interest

Frank Field: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many Support for Mortgage Interest loans are attached to current universal Credit claims.

Will Quince: Some homeowners in receipt of Universal Credit, along with other qualifying benefits, may be able to get help towards interest payments on their mortgage or loans taken out for certain repairs and improvements to their home. This help is called Support for Mortgage Interest (SMI). Assistance is paid as a loan normally paid direct to the lender, which needs to be repaid with interest when a home is sold or ownership is transferred. There were 450 households on Universal Credit on 13th June 2019 that were in receipt of SMI loan payments. Note:Figures have been rounded to the nearest 10.

Department for Work and Pensions: Facsimile Transmission

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many fax machines are in use in (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies.

Mims Davies: DWP has 1303 multifunction devices deployed across the estate which primarily act as printers. In addition, they also have the capability to send and receive fax messages.

Department for Work and Pensions: Email

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many and what proportion of offices in her Department whom third party advice agencies may need to contact cannot be contacted by secure email.

Mims Davies: DWP adheres to Email Security and Policy guidelines when exchanging information with third parties. We have a list of Trusted Partners who are deemed to have the appropriate security in place to allow us to exchange information with. If an organisation does not meet the criteria to be on the trusted partner list, we have an option to use software to encrypt e-mail between us and the third party which will then allow us to exchange data securely. Currently we communicate with 1100 external recipients via this method from 450 organisations. If the external agency cannot support either of the above then we would not be able to exchange information securely via email and would need to agree an alternative method with them.

Department for Work and Pensions: Email

Mark Tami: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will set out a timetable for ensuring that all fax machines in (a) her Department and (b) its executive agencies are replaced with secure email.

Mims Davies: DWP does not currently have a set timetable in place to reduce/remove the ability to send and receive fax messages. However alternative, wider digital channels of communication will become available to customers & DWP colleagues that will naturally reduce the need to utilise faxes by viewing and sharing data information at source, under secure measures.

Universal Credit

Martyn Day: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to ensure that universal credit claimants are aware of how assessment periods are calculated prior to application.

Will Quince: The amount of Universal Credit paid to claimants reflects, as closely as possible, the actual circumstances of a household during each monthly assessment period. Monthly assessment periods align to the way the majority of employees are paid and how utility companies and other service providers collect payments. This allows Universal Credit to be adjusted each month, which means that if a claimant’s income falls they will not have to wait several months for a rise in their Universal Credit. The Department publishes a guide for claimants which tells them how Universal Credit works, including assessment periods.https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/807855/uc-and-you-v16.pdf The Department also publishes more specific guidance for claimants about how different earning patterns affect Universal Credit.https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/universal-credit-different-earning-patterns-and-your-payments/universal-credit-different-earning-patterns-and-your-payments-payment-cycles We continually review Universal Credit using feedback from claimants and stakeholders to inform further improvements to the service.

Children: Maintenance

Peter Grant: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to identify whether parents with claims for historical Child Support Agency arrears (a) are still residing at their last known address and (b) have moved to a new address.

Mims Davies: Legally, it is the responsibility of the customer to inform us if their address changes and as part of preparing a case we are ensuring that any outstanding change of addresses are processed. If a customer has not informed us of a change but have informed another part of DWP or HMRC then their address should have been updated on the Customer Information Service (CIS), and then we will automatically be informed and the clients record updated accordingly. CSA will write to both parents at the most recent address we hold for them. If this is unsuccessful, we will attempt to trace them using the trace tools available to us. Trace activity would include using any information provided by the receiving parent on the representation letter in order to find the paying parents current location. If, at the point of issuing a representation letter to the customer, we hold a Dead Letter Office (DLO) or No Fixed Abode (NFA) address for the customer the system suspends the representation and flags to the case worker to conduct a trace action. If during representation a letter is returned DLO or NFA then the caseworker is instructed by procedures to suspend the representation and complete trace action. If trace action is successful then the address will be updated the representation period restarted. Only if trace action is unsuccessful would we then continue to write off CSA debts.

Personal Independence Payment: Post-polio Syndrome

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether personal independence payment assessments are adjusted to take account of the symptoms experienced by claimants diagnosed with post-polio syndrome.

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, whether personal independence payment assessors receive training on the symptoms of post-polio syndrome so that they are able to identify the complex symptoms experienced by claimants with that syndrome.

Justin Tomlinson: The Personal Independence Payment assessment is not a medical assessment and there is no requirement for the Health Professional to diagnose a condition and recommend treatment options. Health Professionals are trained to be experts in disability analysis and to assess how a disability or syndrome affects the functional capability of each individual claimant. Whilst there is no specific training relating to post-polio syndrome, all Health Professionals have access to a range of resources, including relevant training on specific impairments, including those that are mental, intellectual and cognitive, as well as experienced clinicians to support them in assessing claimants with conditions that they may not be familiar with.

Pension Credit

Steve McCabe: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps her Department is taking to increase the number of eligible pensioners claiming pension credit.

Guy Opperman: It is important to highlight that there are over 1.6 million people already claiming some £5.4 billion in Pension Credit but the Government wants to ensure that all pensioners eligible can claim the Pension Credit to which they are rightly entitled.On a national basis the DWP targets activity on engaging with people who may be eligible to benefits at pivotal stages, such as when they claim State Pension or report a change in their circumstances. The DWP uses a wide range of channels to communicate information about benefits to potential customers; including information on https://gov.uk/, in leaflets and by telephone. DWP staff in Pension Centres and Jobcentres including visiting officers are able to provide help and advice about entitlement to benefits, as are staff in Local Authorities who administer Housing Benefit. Potential customers can use the Pension Credit https://www.gov.uk/pension-credit-calculator to check if they are likely to be eligible and get an estimate of what they may receive. People wishing to claim Pension Credit can do so by calling the Freephone number 0800 99 1234. One of the best ways to reach eligible customers is through trusted stakeholder working in the community and we have developed the Pension Credit toolkit, as an on-line tool for agencies and welfare rights organisations to use in order to encourage Pension Credit take-up. It can be found at: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pension-credit-toolkit The toolkit contains resources for anyone working with pensioners and includes guides to Pension Credit. It also contains publicity material and guidance designed to help older people understand how they could get Pension Credit and help organisations support someone applying for Pension Credit as well as ideas for encouraging take-up. The toolkit also provides links to information about disability and carers benefits. Most recently we have provided to relevant stakeholders a fact sheet about Pension Credit and the changes introduced on 15 May for mixed age couples to ensure that accurate information is available in the places where people are most likely to seek information.

Universal Credit

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the ability of universal credit claimants to access passported benefits.

Will Quince: Claimants may currently be entitled to a number of other benefits because they are in receipt of Universal Credit. These are known as passported benefits, which include free school meals and free prescriptions. The eligibility criteria for each passported benefit remain the responsibility of the Departments and Devolved Administrations that own them. Government Departments and Devolved Administrations continue to work closely together to look at how to reduce the complexity of the current passported benefits system and put in place arrangements for Universal Credit, as it expands, that will continue to target available support at those who need it most. The Department currently signposts Universal Credit households to other financial support via their online account/payment statement, as well as on the GOV.UK website at: https://www.gov.uk/universal-credit/other-financial-support

Universal Credit: Disqualification

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what comparative assessment she has made of the rate of sanctions in areas where universal credit (a) has been and (b) has not been rolled out.

Mims Davies: No comparative assessment has been made between Universal Credit (UC) sanction rates and sanction rates for legacy benefits. There are differences between sanctions policy in UC and other benefits (such as Job Seekers Allowance (JSA)) which means that sanction rates across benefits are not directly comparable. For example, a JSA claimant would have their claim closed (rather than be sanctioned) if they failed to attend a meeting with their Work Coach, and did not make contact within five days. In UC, the same claimant would remain on the benefit and be referred for a sanction. If a sanction was applied, they would continue to receive the UC elements to which they remained entitled, such as those for housing or child costs. UC is designed to provide continuous support to claimants, ensuring that all payment does not cease while we investigate the reasons for loss of contact with a claimant.The Department publishes sanction rates quarterly for UC, JSA and Employment & Support Allowance, the latest statistics can be found at the link below.https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/benefit-sanctions-statistics-to-april-2019 The roll out of Universal Credit is now complete and is available in every Jobcentre across the country. By 2023, all existing legacy claimants will be moved to Universal Credit.

Universal Credit

Paul Blomfield: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Social Security Advisory Committee on the requirement for national advice organisations to receive explicit consent from a claimant to assist with their universal credit claims.

Will Quince: The most recent discussions with SSAC took place on 12th July 2019 and 21st August 2019. The Department is continuing to work with SSAC and third party organisations to understand how Universal Credit can support organisations who help our claimants.

State Retirement Pensions: Females

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what recent discussions she has had with the Secretary of State for Wales on the economic effect of changes to the state pension entitlement age on women in (a) Newport West constituency, (b) Wales and (c) the UK.

Guy Opperman: The Secretary of State has regular discussions with Cabinet colleagues, including the Secretary of State for Wales, on a range of economic and social issues.

Sleeping Rough

John Healey: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many local authority applicants there have been to the Cold Weather Fund since November 2018; how much money has been awarded from that fund; and what the average amount was that was awarded to applicants.

Will Quince: The number of eligible recipients for Cold Weather Payments in areas which have had a cold weather trigger since 1st November 2018 is estimated at 882,000. An estimated £27,100,000 was paid, and Cold Weather Payments are fixed at £25. These figures are based on estimates published in https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/cold-weather-payment-estimates-2018-to-2019, though figures in the publication may not sum to the above figures due to rounding.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how much money was collected by the Child Maintenance Service through the (a) £20 application fee, (b) 4 per cent collection fee and (c) 20 per cent  collection fee on non-resident parents in (i) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (ii) North Lanarkshire, and (iii) Scotland in the last twelve months.

Mims Davies: We do not hold this information at a regional level.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what estimate he has made of the amount of outstanding arrears owed under the (a) Child Maintenance Service and (b) Child Support Agency in (i) Motherwell and Wishaw constituency, (ii) North Lanarkshire, and (iii) Scotland.

Mims Davies: The following table shows the amount of outstanding child maintenance arrears. This has been split into that which was arranged by the CMS, and maintenance which was arranged under the Child Support Agency (CSA), which is either still held on CSA systems or the arrears have been transitioned to the CMS to be collected. The data for outstanding arrears under the Child Maintenance Service (CMS) is up to the end of March 2019. The data for outstanding arrears under the Child Support Agency (CSA), still held on CSA systems, is up to the end of December 2018. Figures are rounded to the nearest thousand.  Outstanding CMS arrears, up to March 2019Outstanding CSA arrears, now transitioned to CMS, up to March 2019Outstanding CSA arrears, still held on CSA systems up to December 2018Motherwell and Wishaw£356,000£1,066,000£2,797,000North Lanarkshire£1,501,000£3,704,000*£13,086,000Scotland£20,269,000£50,872,000*£168,180,000 * Figures are published in the regional tables of the Child Support Agency Quarterly Summary of Statistics https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/child-support-agency-quarterly-summary-of-statistics-december-2018 Note: data from arrears held on the CMS systems is based on Paying Parent address, whereas data held on the CSA systems is based on receiving parent address.

Children: Maintenance

Marion Fellows: To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, for what reason her Department calculates maintenance payment under the Child Maintenance Service using the most up to date complete tax year from HMRC; and if she will make it her policy to use income from the most recent 12 months from HMRC.

Mims Davies: Basing the assessment on HMRC data has enabled the Child Maintenance Service to significantly speed up the processing of new cases which can be key to securing regular payments. The information provided is the most recent tax year within the last six years for which they have the complete tax information.Many people’s incomes do not change greatly from year to year and therefore historic income is considered close enough to a non-resident parent’s current circumstances. Maintenance liabilities are also assessed via an annual review, which acts as a safeguard to respond to any significant change in financial circumstances. A calculation may be based upon current income if earnings can be shown to be at least 25 per cent different to the historic income figure received from HMRC.

Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs

Pets: Tagging

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to create a centrally accessible database logging pets' microchip numbers and date of entry into the UK.

Zac Goldsmith: It is already a requirement for every dog in the UK to be identified by a microchip and its details to be recorded on a recognised database. This includes dogs imported from outside the UK. Defra will shortly be issuing a call for evidence on whether to introduce compulsory microchipping for all cats in England. Furthermore, all pets (cats, dogs and ferrets) entering Great Britain on approved routes have their microchip scanned and recorded by the carrier at the time of travel. We do not consider it necessary at this time to introduce an additional database along the lines proposed.

Pets: Animal Welfare

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to ensure that all dog and cat rehoming centres are adequately regulated.

Zac Goldsmith: As with anyone who owns or keeps animals, rescue and rehoming centres are subject to the provisions of the Animal Welfare Act 2006 which means they must provide for the animals’ welfare needs and protect them from pain, injury and disease. During the consultation on whether to ban the third party selling of puppies and kittens, carried out last year, we included a question about whether rescue and rehoming centres should be regulated. We need to be confident of the benefits and the impacts of any regulations placed on rescue and rehoming centres, particularly on some of the smaller rescues. We will put forward legislative proposals at the earliest possible point, once we have fully consulted with the sector and understood the impact of any proposals.

Dogs: Imports

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what recent steps his Department is taking to increase collaboration between the Animal and Plant Health Agency and veterinary regulatory authorities in other countries to tackle provision of fake pet passports and veterinary certificates for dogs being imported into the UK.

Zac Goldsmith: Defra takes the issue of illegal dog and puppy imports very seriously. This is an abhorrent trade which causes suffering to the smuggled dogs and puts the health of pets and people in the UK at risk. Defra is working hard to tackle the problem through a comprehensive approach that seeks to target both the supply and demand of illegally imported dogs. International engagement is one aspect of this approach. It takes place through Defra, with input from APHA intelligence and expertise. Under Article 26 of EU Regulation 1/2005 (on the protection of animals during transport and related operations), Defra notify Member States of the origin of the transporter where a welfare issue with an import has been identified. We send these to notify the Member State so that they can take remedial action to ensure that the transporter complies in future. The notifications include details of passports and certificates. The UK Chief Veterinary Officer (CVO) has written to her counterparts in countries where illegally imported dogs typically originate, including (most recently) her counterparts in Hungary and Serbia. The issue also continues to be raised and discussed at EU CVO meetings.

Food Supply

Caroline Lucas: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, whether the legal responsibility of local authorities to provide food in a time of crisis extends to (a) children, (b) people on a low income, (c) elderly people, (d) disabled people and (e) housebound people.

Zac Goldsmith: Food is a critical national infrastructure sector and Defra has lead Government department oversight of responsibility for food supply in England. The policy is devolved to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland in the constitutional settlement. Defra is not responsible for the supply of food and drink to the population in an emergency, and the expertise, capability and levers to plan for and respond to food supply disruption lie within the industry. However, we have well established relationships with the food and drink sectors, and we work collaboratively with the food industry and across Government to support coherent and robust industry contingency planning and response in the event of an incident situation. The food industry is experienced in dealing with scenarios that can affect food supply. Local authorities do not have a general duty to provide food but have duties to provide food to particular groups in particular circumstances, including schools and care settings. Public sector food provision for specific sectors is led by the relevant Government departments. Defra works with lead Departments (including DfE, DHSC and MoJ) to support their contingency planning for food supply to public services. Defra’s role involves providing advice and support to these departments who in turn work with their public services to ensure that supply is resilient. We are committed to a strong safety net for those who need it, which is why this Government continues to spend over £90 billion a year on welfare benefits.

Public Footpaths: Repairs and Maintenance

Jo Stevens: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the gross amount was of funding made available for footpath maintenance in England in the 2018-19 financial year.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government does not collect the data of what has been spent by local highway authorities which are responsible for maintenance of other public rights of way. The Government funded spending on National Trails maintenance was £1.81m in 2018/19.

Air Pollution

Paul Farrelly: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what the Government's timescale is for bringing forward legislative proposals to implement its commitment to achieving WHO guideline limits on air pollution by 2030.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: We will share more detail on policy measures for consideration in the Environment Bill in due course.

Agriculture: Subsidies

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of the her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under CAP disallowance.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a detailed breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Voluntary exit scheme.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Official development assistance.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a  breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Inshore fisheries.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Tackling Air Quality.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Other Grants.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row seven of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Salisbury and Amesbury incidents recovery work.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row eight of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Avoiding Food Waste.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row nine of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Abandoned Waste Site Clearance Fund.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row ten of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Urban Trees.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row eleven of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under EU Exit.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row twelve of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 14 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Depreciation.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 15 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Official Development Assistance.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 15 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Flood Defence.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 15 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Urban Trees.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 15 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under Plastic and Waste Innovation Funding.

Peter Dowd: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the Ring-fenced budgets Resource DEL table on page 15 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of budgeted expenditure under EU Exit.

George Eustice: In relation to the Resource Department Expenditure Limits (DEL) table on page 10 of the memorandum, the Capital DEL table on page 11 and Resource AME table on page 13:A breakdown is provided in the annex under ‘Part II: Subhead detail’. In relation to ring-fenced budgets on page 14 and 15 of the memorandum:The breakdown is to be published as a HM Treasury OSCAR data release later in the 2019 calendar year. Defra’s ring-fenced spend on OSCAR is identified by sub segment codes ending with I, J, M and N within the data release. These Official Statistics are released at the following location:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-oscar-publishing-from-the-database We send our Estimate and Memorandum (including the Annexes) to our Select Committee and this should all be published on the documents page under commons committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Our Annex (attached) has not been published but the Scrutiny Unit is following up on this.



Annex A, Departmental Expenditure Limits 
(Word Document, 43.52 KB)

Agriculture: Expenditure

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead A – Food and Farming.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead A – Food and Farming.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row one of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead L, R – Food and Farming.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead B, H – Improve the environment.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a  breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead B, H – Improve the environment.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row two of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead M, S – Improve the environment.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead C, I – Flood protection.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead D, E, J – Animal, fish and plant health.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead F, K – Rural services.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the table Resource DEL on page 10 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead G – Departmental operating costs, and Departmental operating costs (EU Exit budget held centrally).

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead C, I – Flood protection.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead D, E, J – Animal, fish and plant health.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead F, K – Rural services.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the table Capital DEL on page 11 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead G – Departmental operating costs.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row three of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead T – Flood protection.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row four of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead N, O, U – Animal, fish and plant health.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row five of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead P, V – Rural services.

Sue Hayman: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to row six of the table Resource AME on page 13 of her Department's 2019-20 Main Estimate Memorandum, if she will publish a breakdown of expenditure under Estimate Subhead Q – Departmental operating costs.

George Eustice: In relation to the Resource DEL table on page 10 of the memorandum, the Capital DEL table on page 11 and Resource AME table on page 13:A breakdown is provided in the annex under ‘Part II: Subhead detail’. In relation to ring-fenced budgets on page 14 and 15 of the memorandum:The breakdown is to be published as a HM Treasury OSCAR data release later in the 2019 calendar year. Defra’s ring-fenced spend on OSCAR is identified by sub segment codes ending with I, J, M and N within the data release. These Official Statistics are released at the following location:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/hmt-oscar-publishing-from-the-database We send our Estimate and Memorandum (including the Annexes) to our Select Committee and this should all be published on the documents page under commons committee for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee. Our Annex (attached) has not been published but the Scrutiny Unit is following up on this.

Plastics: Waste

Alex Sobel: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, how many tonnes of plastic waste was sent to landfill by each local authority in the most recent year for which data is available.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Local authorities do not report waste sent to landfill by material type and therefore the Government does not hold this data.

Health Services: Weather

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the tenth special report of the Environmental Audit Committee, published on 24 October 2018 on Heatwaves: adapting to climate change: Government Response to the Committee's ninth report, HC 826, whether the Government has updated the adaptation guidance for local authorities.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: Yes. On 27 June a new good practice guidance document was published to help local authorities strengthen preparedness to climate change risks: www.adeptnet.org.uk/climategpg.

Climate Change

Mary Creagh: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, with reference to the tenth special report of the Environmental Audit Committee, published on 24 October 2018 on Heatwaves: adapting to climate change: Government Response to the Committee's ninth report, HC 826,  whether the Government plans to reinstate the regional climate change partnerships.

Dr Thérèse Coffey: The Government works closely with an extensive set of stakeholders to build resilience to climate change risks across the whole country, including with the Local Adaptation Advisory Panel (LAAP), the Local Government Association, the Association of Directors of Environment, Economy, Planning and Transport, and Core Cities. In particular we support the LAAP, the forum on climate change adaptation at a local level, which brings together central and local government and agencies to promote and deliver adaptation in the local government sector. In November last year we launched a new set of UK Climate Projections 2018 (UKCP18), commissioned from the Met Office. UKCP18 is the first major update to the UK’s national climate change projections for nearly ten years, and this time it includes global and regional scenarios. The Government will use UKCP18 to inform its adaptation and mitigation planning and decision making, and the projections will also help local authorities, businesses and communities to take action to improve resilience. This year we will be releasing a new addition to UKCP18 in the form of local projections on a similar resolution to that of operational weather forecast models (i.e. 2.2km). This will provide locally relevant information to inform decision making on future climate change to enhance resilience.

Livestock: Exports

Dr Rupa Huq: To ask the Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of bringing forward legislative proposals to ban the export of live animals from the UK for slaughter and fattening abroad.

Zac Goldsmith: I refer the Honourable Member to the reply given to the Honourable Member for Crewe and Nantwich, on 2 July 2019; PQ UIN 268497.

Home Office

Airwave Service and Emergency Services Network: Standards

Douglas Ross: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what criteria his Department plans to use to allow police forces to assess the comparative performance of Emergency Services Network and Airwave.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Department has already committed to respond to the Hon. Member for Moray and the Home Affairs Select Committee in writing on this issue, within the required timescale.

Detention Centres: Staff

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to provide mental health support to immigration removal centre staff.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department is taking to provide support to individuals employed in immigration removal centres who are suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed in immigration removal centres were signed off work as a result of mental health illnesses in each of the last 10 years.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed in immigration removal centres took early retirement as a result of ill health in each of the last ten years.

Caroline Flint: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many people employed in immigration removal centres were signed off work as a result of post-traumatic stress disorder in each of the last ten years.

Seema Kennedy: The Home Office is committed to ensuring that our immigration removal cen-tre (IRC) suppliers provide a high level of service to detainees while also providing value for money to the taxpayer. With regards to our suppliers’ staff, we require all our suppliers to put systems in place to fulfil a duty of care to their employees to ensure the wellbeing and resilience of their staff throughout their tenure in the IRC.In line with other contractual agreements, IRC suppliers are required to meet set service standards, including ensuring minimum staffing levels are met.The new contract to manage the IRCs at Gatwick will set high expectations for the quality of management and staffing in key elements of the estate.Information on numbers of IRC staff is not centrally recorded in the format requested.

Vehicle Number Plates: Fraud

Stephen Crabb: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, how many motoring offences have been committed by drivers of cloned vehicles in each of the last three years.

Kit Malthouse: Information is not held centrally on motoring offences committed by drivers of cloned vehicles.

Loneliness

Rachel Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps his Department has taken with the Loneliness Action Group to share learning on loneliness and ensure effective implementation of the loneliness strategy.

Victoria Atkins: Government has engaged closely with the Loneliness Action Group in the development and now implementation of its Loneliness Strategy. The Home Office has worked in tandem with other departments in this and Home Office officials have spoken with the Loneliness Action Group about our progress in delivering our commitments in the Strategy.Government officials have regularly attended the quarterly Loneliness Action Group meetings, to share updates and hear the group's views. The Minister for Sport and Civil Society, who leads Government's work on loneliness, spoke at the Loneliness Action Group conference in May 2019.

Children: Exploitation

Mr Steve Reed: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will make an assessment of the implications for her Department's policies of the findings of the Children’s Society report entitled Counting lives, published in July 2019.

Kit Malthouse: Criminal exploitation in the form of county lines has a devastating impact on those affected and we must work together to identify and safeguard the victims and potential victims of this form of exploitation as early as possible.Our Serious Violence Strategy sets out our approach to tackling county lines and its related exploitation and through this we have delivered a range of action to enhance our approach to tackling this issue.This includes providing £3.6m for a new National County Lines Co-ordination Centre. Launched in September 2018 the NCLCC has already led three separate weeks of law enforcement ‘intensification’ leading to 1600 arrests and safeguarding of over 2100 individuals. Through the Early Intervention Youth Fund we are also funding 10 projects with a specific county lines focus to support victims and potential victims of this exploitation. We have also worked to increase awareness of county lines exploitation amongst those best placed to spot it and have published guidance for frontline professionals on how to identify potential victims of county lines and appropriate referral routes.We welcome the report published by the Children’s Society and will consider its findings carefully as we continue to develop and strengthen our response to county lines.

Police: Recruitment

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, with reference to the Prime Minister's statement of 24 July 2019, what the timescale is for the recruitment of 20,000 police officers.

Kit Malthouse: The Prime Minister has said that 20,000 extra police officers will be recruited over the next three years.

Asylum: Employment

Catherine West: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to review the restrictions that prevent asylum seekers from working.

Victoria Atkins: Asylum seekers are allowed to work in the UK if their claim has been outstanding for 12 months, through no fault of their own. Those permitted to work are restricted to jobs on the shortage occupation list published by the Home Office. The Home Office is currently reviewing this matter.

Police: Recruitment

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether she plans to allocate the funding for 20,000 extra police officers to local forces according to how many police officers each force has lost since 2010.

Kit Malthouse: We recognise that demand on the police is changing and we are acting. We are committed to recruiting 20,000 additional police officers over the next three years to tackle the rise in crime. This is the start of a new relationship between the Government and the police, and we will work even more closely together to protect the public.The National Policing Board has been set up to provide strong leadership and deliver on our commitment to recruit 20,000 more police officers. Following the first meeting, the government and police will move at pace to drive forward our plans to bolster the police’s ranks.All force-level funding allocations will be set out in the usual way at the pro-visional police funding settlement in December. The Government is working with the sector through a number of important details, including on allocating officers between different functions and activities to ensure maximum value from this additional resource.

Immigration

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether it remains her Department's policy to reduce immigration to the UK; and what her policy is on international students coming to the UK to study.

Seema Kennedy: We strongly believe in the benefits of migration and we will continue to ensure that we attract the best and brightest talent to the UK. We will deliver a system that welcomes to this country the people who want to contribute, but that enables us to control migration.We want to attract international students to study in the UK and study at our world class institutions.

Stone: Theft

Graham P Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what plans she has to re-establish the Metal Theft Taskforce with an extended remit to include stone theft.

Kit Malthouse: We provided over £6 million of funding for the police-led Metal Theft Taskforce to help ensure the reforms to tackle metal theft introduced by the Scrap Metal Dealers Act 2013 were embedded within the normal business of police forces and local authorities.The Taskforce was not intended to be a long-term arrangement and disbanded in 2014 following the successful implementation of the 2013 Act. The most recent statistics show that recorded levels of metal theft offences in March 2018 are still 73% lower compared with March 2013.We continue to work with the police, industry, local authorities and others on this issue and on acquisitive crime more generally.

Criminal Investigation

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what assessment she has made of police capacity to adequately investigate low-level crimes.

Kit Malthouse: We recognise that demand on policing is changing and becoming more complex. That is why we provided an additional £1 billion of funding for policing in 2019/20 and PCCs announced plans to recruit an additional 3000 police officers and over 700 police staff.The Government is now going even further – the Prime Minister announced on 26 July our commitment to recruiting an additional 20,000 police officers in England and Wales over the next three years.

Crime

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of low-level crimes that were reported but not investigated in each of the last 10 years.

Kit Malthouse: The Home Office collects and routinely publishes information on how notifiable crimes that have been reported to and recorded by the police in England and Wales have been resolved.Since April 2013, when the Home Office introduced a new outcomes framework, greater transparency has been provided on how all notifiable crimes recorded by the police have been resolved.Prior to this information on how notifiable crimes recorded by the police were resolved was limited to those cases resulting in a formal or informal criminal justice outcome.Published data can be found here:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/crime-outcomes-in-england-and-wales-statisticshttps://www.gov.uk/government/collections/crimes-detected-in-england-and-wales

Police: Emergency Calls

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of police response time to emergency calls.

Ellie Reeves: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what information her Department holds on the number of emergency calls that did not receive a police response within one hour in each of the last 10 years.

Kit Malthouse: The handling of 999/101 calls, including response times and performance targets is an operational matter for the police.The Home Office does not collect data on the 999 emergency service.

Young Offenders: EU Nationals

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether children in secure care or detention are eligible to apply to the EU Settlement Scheme.

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether a period of imprisonment will be included in an assessment of a child's (a) eligibility and (b) continuous residence criteria under the EU settlement scheme.

Brandon Lewis: A person’s continuity of residence in the UK for the purposes of eligibility under the EU Settlement Scheme is broken when they serve a sentence of imprisonment. They will not generally be eligible to apply to the scheme while they are serving that sentence.This is consistent with EU law on free movement, as currently given effect in the UK by the Immigration (European Economic Area) Regulations 2016. This provision applies to children in detention as it does for all applicants to the EU Settlement Scheme.

UK Border Force: Airports

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, if she will publish monthly service performance data for UK Border Force at each airport.

Seema Kennedy: There are no current plans to routinely publish this data in the future.Border Force transparency data relating to national service performance can be found at the following link:https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/border-force-statistics

UK Border Force: Airports

Kate Green: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what steps she is taking to review service level agreements between UK Border Force and each UK airport; and if she will make a statement.

Seema Kennedy: Border Force performance against Service Level Agreements (SLAs) is kept under review, informed by regular discussions Border Force has with industry and consumer bodies.Border Force is currently engaging with the aviation industry under the terms of the Department for Transport’s Aviation 2050 Green Paper to look at key elements of the passenger experience, including the current SLA level and process to ensure it is robust, and appropriately balances security and service at the border. The work will include looking into all aspects of the passenger journey.

Police: Artificial Intelligence

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, what recent assessment she has made of the adequacy of oversight and monitoring of the use of algorithms by police forces.

Chi Onwurah: To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, whether her Department provides guidance to police forces on the appropriate use of algorithms in decision-making.

Kit Malthouse: We recognise the potential that the use of emerging technologies present for improving outcomes for citizens and also the importance of ensuring that these are used in a way which is compliant with appropriate legal and ethical frameworks.We welcome the work by the Centre for Data Ethics and Innovation (CDEI) to develop a code of practice for use of algorithms in predictive policing and will be working with them to develop it.

Scotland Office

Scotland Office: Advertising

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, for what reasons social media adverts produced by his Department do not appear in the Facebook ad library.

Mr Alister Jack: The Facebook ad library contains data on every active ad. When the Department has active ads they automatically appear in the ad library under ‘UK Government Scotland’. The Facebook ad library also contains data on some inactive ads on topics determined by Facebook. To date this includes two ads shown by the Department, both of which pertained to Brexit.

Brexit

Hugh Gaffney: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, what recent discussions he has had with the Scottish Trades Union Congress on the UK leaving the EU.

Mr Alister Jack: I expect to have discussions with many businesses and organisations, including the Scottish Trades Union Congress, on a range of issues of relevance to Scotland in due course.

Scotland Office: Information Officers

Deidre Brock: To ask the Secretary of State for Scotland, pursuant to the Answer of 14 March 2019 to Question 230101 on Scotland Office: Information Officers, what the cost to the public purse was of his Department's communications team in 2018-19.

Mr Alister Jack: The Communications team cost for 2018-19 was £819,640.02. The Office is resourced to enable effective engagement and communication with the public and organisations across Scotland. These responsibilities have increased as the UK prepares to leave the European Union.

Northern Ireland Office

Northern Ireland Government

Neil Coyle: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what steps his Department is taking to restoring devolved Government in Northern Ireland.

Julian Smith: Since May, the five main Northern Ireland parties have engaged in a series of cross-party talks, focused on the key issues that are central to restoring the power-sharing institutions. I am doing everything I can to support the political parties in coming to an agreement, including continuing having detailed discussions with everyone involved. The report I laid before the House on Wednesday 4 September contains a fuller update on the progress towards restoring the Executive. The people of Northern Ireland deserve strong political leadership from locally elected politicians. They do not deserve the current impasse.

Northern Ireland Office: Catering

Ruth Jones: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, how much his Department spent on refreshments in (a) 2017 and (b) 2018.

Julian Smith: In answering this question the Department has taken refreshments to mean tea, coffee and biscuits. Data for 2017 is only available for the period of April to December due to a change in how the data was captured. For these months in 2017 there was a spend of £704.00 on refreshments. In 2018, the spend on refreshments was £3,464.38.

Air Routes: Northern Ireland

Andrew Rosindell: To ask the Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, what assessment he has made of the viability of the Secretary of State for Transport's commitment to provide subsidised daily flights from City of Derry Airport to London Southend Airport until 2021.

Julian Smith: I welcome the recent announcement by the Secretary of State for Transport on the extension of the public service obligation route between City of Derry airport and London Southend. This funding protects a valuable route for visitors as well as businesses seeking to commute between the two cities. It is vital that we maintain key connections such as these within our United Kingdom.